23 Interview Questions for Freshers (+ Answers)

November 10, 2023

10 min read

A Black university student in a navy t-shirt and jeans who's wearing a backpack leaves a building to practice interview questions for freshers.

Practicing interview questions for freshers before an upcoming interview is essential to your success as a potential candidate for the job.

This comprehensive guide will tell you everything you need to know about how to prepare for an interview, which types of questions you’ll likely face, and which specific interview questions for freshers you should practice, including how to answer them. 

How to Prepare for Interviews for Freshers

Although it might be intimidating at first, preparing for an interview as a fresher doesn’t have to be.

Here are the five best ways to prepare for interview questions for freshers and the conversation as a whole.

1. Get familiar with the company and the position you applied to. 

An easy mistake to make as a fresher is not doing the proper research on the company and the position you applied for. You need to be pretty familiar with both aspects to show that you’re serious about the opportunity. 

Start by checking out the company’s website and official social media pages, like X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook. These are great places to get more information about the employer’s services or products, mission statement, and values. With social media especially, you’ll be able to get an idea of some of the latest developments and news around the company. 

You could also reach out to people who work or worked at the company via LinkedIn or email. If you’re able to contact someone, you could ask about:

  • Their overall experience working for said company
  • The company culture
  • Who would be on the team you’d work for

Still, you can dive even deeper to get more information about the company and the role you applied for. You can read reviews from past and current employees on a site like Glassdoor. This can also give you an idea of the company culture, employee job satisfaction, the type of work environment, and even what benefits are available (depending on the company and available reviews). 

2. Dress the part for your interview as a fresher.

One common mistake freshers make is not dressing the part for their interview as a fresher. It’s very important to dress professionally, especially if it’s your first interview with the company and you’re trying to make a good impression. 

Although some companies are more accepting and encourage body positivity more often than others, the safest choice is to choose clothing that’s not too “revealing.” Pick out an outfit that’s neat, clean, and fits you well. 

Even though you could wear any color clothing, clothes that are neutral colors are a great choice. 

Don’t forget that dressing professionally also includes your hair, shoes, and accessories. 

3. Practice your body language.

For freshers, practicing and getting comfortable with your body language before your interview is something that often goes forgotten. Your body language and other nonverbal communication and cues are more important than most realize. 

For example, you might practice speaking while looking at yourself in the mirror. Try to use some natural hand gestures and smile when appropriate as you speak. 

Whether or not the interview is in person, make sure you stand (or sit) up straight and have good posture. Try not to fidget, either. It can be difficult, but sometimes fidgeting can make you seem anxious or nervous, even when you’re not. If you have a condition that can make it challenging to sit perfectly still — such as autism, ADHD, or restless leg syndrome — don’t stress about this part. 

It’s also a good idea to make eye contact for at least a few seconds at a time. That can show interviewers that you’re paying attention. 

4. Bring copies of important documents, like your resumé, cover letter, and transcript.

You should always plan to bring copies of important documents, such as your resumé, cover letter, and transcript to an interview as a fresher. This is helpful whether you have an in-person or online interview because it’s helpful to have a reference if you need it. 

For example, if an employer wants to clarify something about your work history and you don’t recall the year you worked there, you could check your resumé and ensure you give them the correct year. 

5. Practice some common interview questions for freshers (including preparing answers). 

Without a doubt, the best way to prep for an interview is to practice a few interview questions for freshers. Yoodli — a communication coach tool that uses AI — is a great way to put in the effort and practice. 

Yoodli is a downloadable resource that offers a detailed, realistic interview simulation for users to take advantage of. Using this tool, you can practice the most common interview questions for freshers.

To start, you can pick out the type of interviewer for the simulation. This is helpful because not all interviewers are the same. Some are more amiable, chatty, and friendly while others prefer to be more serious. 

Then, using generative AI, Yoodli prompts you to respond to various queries, like interview questions for freshers. To make it even more realistic, this interview coach will also provide follow-up questions. 

Once you’re finished responding, you’ll be able to see the actual metrics from your simulated interview. This includes insights like your:

  • Complete transcript of how you answered the questions
  • Filler word usage, including the most common fillers you use and how many times they were used
  • Word choice, including any verbiage you used that might be offensive to others (to keep your unconscious bias in check)
  • Speaking pace

Based on your answers alone, Yoodli will provide you with personalized, actionable suggestions and recommendations to help you improve your response to any interview questions for freshers you practiced. 

Check out Yoodli’s explainer video to find out more about this interview flow and how you can use it to your advantage:

Practice answering interview questions for freshers with Yoodli’s interview flow.

Types of Interview Questions for Freshers

There are a few types of interview questions for freshers that you can expect during your conversation. For example, the most typical questions fall into three categories: general, technical, and behavioral.

General interview questions for freshers

There will undoubtedly be queries that are asked during virtually any type of interview. These more general questions are applicable to any candidate. 

The most common interview questions help an interviewer understand you as a person and employee These questions could include queries about:

  • Your educational background
  • Your work history
  • Why you’re interested in the role you applied for 
  • Where you envision yourself in five years
  • Your long-term career goals

Technical questions

On the other hand, technical questions are focused on gauging your understanding, knowledge, and specific related skills for the position and its requirements. Technical interview questions for freshers, unlike general interview questions, are meant to test your industry knowledge, so they’ll be completely based on the industry and job you applied for.

For example, if you applied for a software engineering position, the interview might inquire about your experience with various programming languages, like Java or C++. If you applied for a sales position, they might ask you about how you feel about cold calling or your experience with customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Behavioral interview questions for freshers

With behavioral interview questions, the goal is for the interviewer to be able to assess your soft skills. These include questions like hypotheticals that present you with a scenario to see how you’d handle it. 

Some of the queries you might get that fall into this category include questions about times where:

  • You had to work under a tight deadline or under lots of pressure
  • You collaborated with a team to complete a project
  • You had to deal with a challenging situation at work
  • You received criticism and negative feedback, and how you responded to it

23 Interview Questions for Freshers (+ Answers)

It can help tremendously to prepare to specifically answer interview questions for freshers so that you can have a general response ready to go. Although you don’t want to memorize a response word-for-word, it’s always nice to have a jumping off point

Here are the most common interview questions for freshers and how to answer them.

1. Why should we hire you? 

This is a really popular interview question for freshers in particular. Although it can be difficult if you’re not used to “bragging” about yourself, it’s really important to advocate for yourself and explain why you’re the best candidate for this position. 

To do so, plan to talk about your work experience that directly relates to the responsibilities of this role. Use specific examples that showcase any skills that are helpful for the job. 

This can help you show the interviewer exactly how your work speaks for itself and what you’d bring to the table if you’re hired. 

2. Where do you see yourself in five years? Ten years?

Many interviewers like to know that their candidates have a long-term plan for where they want to advance in their career. To gauge this in applicants, interviewers will often ask where the candidate sees themselves in five to ten years. 

If you’re faced with this question, don’t be afraid to get into the nitty gritty of what your career goals are down the line. You want to show the interviewer that you’re motivated and ambitious. Be sure to relate the position you’re applying for to your long-term goals so they know you’re serious about the job. 

3. Tell me about yourself.

This is where having a good, thought-out elevator pitch will come in handy. It’s a classic query that helps the interviewer get a better idea of who you are and what you stand for. 

For this question, start by telling the person interviewing you a little bit about yourself, including your educational background and your skills relevant to the position you applied for. It’s critical to connect your work experience and qualifications to the job you’re interviewing for so the interviewer will see you as a good fit for the role.

4. Why are you interested in this role?

This interview question for freshers helps rule out any candidates who aren’t truly interested in the position and are only looking for a job to do. The interviewer is trying to weed out anyone who isn’t motivated or inspired to do their best work in the role. It also helps them get an idea of how much you know about the company in general and the actual job. That’s why taking the time to do some research beforehand is so important. 

In your answer, include things like:

  • Your prior work experience and how it relates to the job
  • Any skills that are transferable to this role
  • Why you’re excited for the opportunity to work in this position
  • What you like about the company you’re interviewing with

5. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

To better gauge a candidate’s level of self-awareness, interviewers will often ask what they think their own strengths and weaknesses are. Interviewers want to make sure that you’re capable of identifying areas that you need to improve in. 

Most interviewers can see through a candidate who isn’t telling the truth, so make sure your answer is both authentic to yourself and above all else, honest. Definitely focus on your strengths, but don’t avoid bringing up one of your “weaknesses.”

However, when you bring up a weakness, it’s critically important to also mention how exactly you’ve been working to improve it. 

Other common interview questions for freshers

Aside from the above commonly asked questions, there are others that you should plan to prepare for.

For example, some interview questions for freshers that you should be ready to respond to include queries such as to: 

  • During school, what extracurricular activities were you involved in?
  • What communication skills do you use most often?
  • How do you stay organized at work?
  • For this role, what are your expectations with regard to salary?
  • What decision-making skills do you have?
  • Do you work well under pressure or stress?
  • How do you deal with criticism and feedback?
  • What are your future career goals?
  • How do you manage conflict with team members or coworkers?
  • Describe your computer skills. 
  • How do you work to improve your executive presence?
  • Tell me a little about your teamwork skills and how you work with a team.
  • How would you describe your problem-solving abilities?
  • What are your time management skills?
  • Do you enjoy learning new things?
  • What are your proudest academic accomplishments?
  • How do you go about giving someone feedback or criticism?
  • What research skills do you have?

The Key Takeaway

Practicing interview questions for freshers, such as the ones above, is integral to your success at interviews. If you want to make a good impression with the person interviewing you, being comfortable and prepared is half the battle.  

To practice, check out Yoodli’s interview flow to ensure you’re ready for your upcoming conversation. You can use Yoodli’s feedback to make specific improvements and go into the interview cool, calm, collected, and confident. 

Luckily, you can use Yoodli to skip the guesswork and improve your interview responses. The most important thing to remember is how capable you are of getting a teaching position. 

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